Hot iron rods pressed on 16-month-old to cure fever

Raipur, Feb 16 (IANS) A 16-month-old baby in a Chhattisgarh village was shockingly subjected to treatment by hot iron rods, leaving burn marks on his body - all to cure the child of fever and vomiting!

The small boy was given the hot iron rod treatment about 100 times by villagers with the consent of his parents in Surjula village in Jashpur district, some 450 km from here, health officials said Monday.

The villagers who treated 16-month-old Deepak told the family that the baby was possessed by a ghost and the only cure was to press hot iron rods on his body.

The shocking incident took place Saturday and little Deepak has now been admitted to a hospital in the district headquarters of Jashpur Nagar. Doctor there found over 100 burn marks all over the baby’s body, said P.K. Singh, block medical officer posted in Jashpur.

“A few villagers brutally subjected the child to hot iron rods to treat his vomiting and fever by freeing him from a ghost. It is inhuman. We have enough health workers in the rural areas but the illiterate villagers still believe in superstitions,” Singh told IANS on phone.